Ventilating car-door.



I. Q. HORN. VENTILATING GAB. DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 25. 1913 Patented Dec. 29, 1914.-

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I. Q. HORN. VENTILATING GAR noon. APPLICATION FILED JULY 25, 1913.

1, 1 22,93, Patented Dec. 29, 1914.

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&1 H0214 21 UTE STATES PATENT JOHN Q. HORN, on mom/roam, VIRGINIA, AssIGNon or ONE-HALF TO PHI P. TRAMA,

F RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

VENTILATING CAR-DOOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 29, 1914.

Application filed July 25, 1913. Serial No. 781,276.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it lrnown that 1, JOHN Q. HORN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Richmond, in the county of Henrico and State of Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Ventilating Car-Doors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in railway boX cars and especially with reference to an improved combined car door and car ventilator and consists in the construc tion, combination and arrangement of devices hereinafter described and claimed.

One object of my invention is to provide a freight car door of improved construction and to combine therewith a series of ventilating slides which may be arranged in open or closed position at will, another object of the invention being to provide improved means for operating the ventilating slides.

Still another object is to provide improved means to secure the car door in either open or closed position.

In the accompanying drawings :-Figure 1 is an elevation of a portion of a box car provided with a door constructed in accordance with my invention, showing the door in closed position and with its ventilating slides open. Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing the door open and its ventilating slides arranged in closed position. Fig. 8 is a horizontal sectional view on the plane indicated by the line aa of Fig. 1, showing the door in closed position in full lines and in open position in dotted lines. Fig. 1 is a vertical transverse sectional view of the same on the plane indicated by the line bb of Fig. 1.

Fig. is a similar view on the plane indicated by the line0c ofFig. 1. Fig. 6 is a similar view on the plane indicated by the line cZ-cZ of Fig. 1.

For the purposes of this specification, a car wall is indicated at 1 provided with a door opening 2. The wall is provided on its outer side and at a point below the level of the floor with a lower guide rail 3 and also with a series of lower supporting and guide brackets 1, the said bracketsihaving upwardly projecting arms 5 which are spaced from the outer side of the rail and project upwardly to a point at a higher plane than the said rail.

An upper supporting and guide rail 6 is also arranged on the wall of the car at a point above the door opening and is here shown as substantially L-shaped cross sectionally, comprising a vertical web 7 which bears against and is secured to the car well, an outwardly extending horizontally arranged tread web 8 and a downwardly extending vertical web 9 at the outer side of the tread web.

A housing rail 10 is arranged above the rail 6 and comprises a vertical web 11, the upper side of which is pivotally connected to the car wall as at 12, an outwardly extending web 13 arranged above and spaced from the tread web 8 of the rail 6 and a ver tical or wall web 14 which is spaced from the web 9 of said rail 6. The said housing rail is also formed with end walls 15 and is adapted to be raised to uncover the rail 6 but is normally in vertical position so as to form a housing for the said rail 6 and protect the latter and the upper side of the door hereinafter described, from the elements. This housing rail is somewhat longer than the rail 6 and when in normally lowered position closes over the ends of the said rail. The wall of the car is also provided with a securing bar or plate16 arranged on the outer side thereof and which extends from one side of the door opening to a point a suitable distance therefrom, the said securing bar or plate 16 being provided at the end nearest the door opening with a vertical transverse slot 17 and being provided near the opposite end with a similar slot 18. The door 19 is of open or lattice construction and is made of iron, steel or other suitable metal and comprises an inner frame 20 and an outer frame 21.

The inner frame comprises a series of vertically arranged and spaced angle bars 22 and a series of horizontally arranged and spaced bars 23 which connect the bars 22. The outer frame 21 comprises a pair of vertically arranged L-bars 24, upper and lower T-bars 25 which connect the said L-bars together and intermediate and horizontally arranged T-bars 26 which also connect the L-bars together. The horizontally arranged bars of the outer frame are in line with those of the inner frame and vertical grooves 27 are formed in the opposing sides of the horizontally arranged bars of the inner and outer frames and in the lower and upper sides of said horizontally arranged bars to form guideways for the reception of the upper and lower edges of a series of ventilating slides 28 with which the door is provided, the said slides being arranged between the inner and outer frames of the door, the end portions of the slides being covered on their outer sides by the end of L-bars 24 of the outer door frame and the upper and lower edges of the slides being covered by the horizontally' arranged bars of the inner and outer bars of the inner door frame so as to permit air to pass freely into the car when the door is closed and when in another position register with the vertical bars 22 of the inner door frame, thus closing the said openings and cutting oif ventilation as will be understood.

, The lower side of the door bears against the outer side of the lower guide rail 3 and is engaged on its outer surface by the arms 5 of the brackets 4. At the upper side of the door, at the ends thereof, are upwardly extending hangers 30 which are provided with rollers 31 that bear and operate on the tread web 8 of the upper rail 6, the upper portion of the top T-bar 25 of the door engaging the inner side of the depend ing guard flange 9 of said rail 8 and, hence, preventing the car door from becoming casually detached from the rail.

To operate the ventilating slides of the car door, we provide a shaft 32 which is mounted in hearings in the horizontal bars of the outer door frame, is provided at points between the said horizontal bars with cranks 33 and is also provided, at its lower end, with an operating crank 34. Each of the slides has a U-shaped yoke or arm 35 projecting from its outer side and engaged by one of the cranks of the said shaft so that by turning the crank-shaft through halfa revolution it may be caused to open Q or close the ventilating slides, as desired.

The horizontal web of the lower T-bar 25 of the door is provided with notches 36 to receive the crank 34 of the shaft 32 and is also provided with openings 37 for the reception of afastening. device 38 to engage the crank and thereby lock the shaft in either position, with the ventilating slides in open or closed position, as desired.

In order to secure the car door in closed or open position, at will, we provide the same with a latch 39 which has a shaft 40 mounted in bearings 41 on one of the bars 26 of the door, a lever 42 at right angles to the shaft and an arm 43 in the angle between the shaft and the lever, the said arm I being adapted to be engaged with either the slot 17 or the'slot 18 of the securing bar or plate 16 according to whether the door is closed or opened, to secure the door in closed or open position. The lower T-bar 25 ofthe door has a notch 44 to receive the lower end of the lever 42 and is also provided with openings 45 to receive a securing device 46 for locking the lever 42 and, hence, the latch in engaged position.

The lever 42 is longitudinally adjustable so that it may be shortened when it is desired to operate the latch in a confined space, as for instance when the car is near a wall of a building or isnear another car standing on another track. To enable the lever of the latch to be longitudinally adjusted the same is constructed with a member 42 integral with thearm 4.3 and an adjustable member 42 These members are slidably connected together for longitudinal movement of the member 42 and are respectively provided with eyes 42 and 42 may be drawn downwardly to cause said arm to bearunder the horizontal web of the T- bar 25 when the said member is engaged with the notch 44 and when desired and when it is necessary cooperate the latch in a confined space, the member 42 may be run upuntil its eye 42 engages the arm 39, thereby materially shortening the said lever and hence adapting it to be operated in the confined space. a

It will be understood that, in practice, a car may be provided with one or more of our improved ventilating doors on one or both sides of the car. 7

lVhile I have herein shown and described a preferred form of my invention, I would have it understood that changes may be made in the form, proportion and construc- 'tion of the several parts without departing from the spirit. of the invention and within the scope of the appended claims. 3

I claim I A metallic car door comprising in. combination a series of exteriorly spaced hori- 42", which has an arm 42 at its lower end i zontally arranged bars T-shape'd in" cross section, a pair of vertical corner bars L- shaped in cross section for making completely inclosed vertical ends for the door, a Series of internally arranged vertical rectangular bars and perforated plates slidable between the outer surfaces of said rec- Gaines of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

